Going Nowhere Fast

A Bungie.org/Mythica.org Production

Status Update: Last Updated 3 August 2004Download links for all released levels can be found here.

The Contest

The goal of "Going Nowhere Fast" is to complete each level of Halo in the fastest
time possible. Anyone can compete, and all you need to do is to record a video
of your fastest runthrough of any level (heck, you could submit your fastest time
for EVERY level if you want). Then you submit them to us, and we'll watch them
all and time them to see who has the fastest runthrough for each level.

You can use any tricks that you want to in order to make your runthrough the
fastest possible. The person who submits the fastest runthrough for each level
wins.

Once the contest is over we'll release all of the winning entries to the public.
We'll also release "Going Nowhere Fast", a huge video compilation showing every one
of the fastest runs back-to-back.

The Prizes

The person who submitted the fastest entry for each level wins a prize. The
ten level prizes are listed below:

The prize distribution will be delineated more clearly before the final submission deadline, but the basic idea is that the top (weighted) score will get first choice, the second (weighted) score second choice, and so on.

Finally, In addition to these prizes, a panel of judges will watch each of the top 3 entries for each level (30 entries in all) and decide which entry is best overall. The best entry overall will be judged on such characteristics as the player's skill, the tricks used, any never-before-seen tricks, and general coolness factor.

The History

The first sign that people might be interested in speed runs of Halo levels came in November, 2002, when Åstro the Space Duck first challenged folks to 'Halo Done Quick'. Travis Cossel (aka BIGwooly) picked up the gauntlet, and founded Halo@LightningSpeed, a Seventh Column chapter devoted to speed runs. Nobody's posted there in a few months... but there was quite a bit of action there in its heyday. Åstro was back 3 months later with a full runthrough in just under 111 minutes... in co-op (and on Easy). A month later, he and his team submitted Halo Done Quick Part 1, a coop runthrough of Pillar of Autumn, on Legendary in 5:44. (Actually, I calculated it as 5:32, but who am I to argue?) Two months after that, Vern Shields submitted a 4:43 runthrough of Silent Cartographer - in Solo, but on Easy. Things were quiet for a while, but in April 2004, Juggertrout submitted a 7:19 runthrough of Assault on the Control Room - Solo, Easy - and was quickly beaten by a 6:25 version by SpotCheck (difficulty unknown). Others in our forum began to try other levels - we realized it was time to act. And that's why you're reading this today.

The Rules

1. Only an unmodded Xbox may be used. (Yes, this means no Halo PC or Mac Halo entries.) NTSC and PAL boxes are both acceptable, and entries from outside the US are also accepted.

2. All attempts must be made in single-player mode using the legendary
difficulty.

3. Every submission must show the completion of an entire level from start to
finish.

4. No editing of the video whatsoever will be allowed. You may NOT add
your own music or text, or otherwise edit the raw Xbox footage in any way.

5. Every submission must begin at the main Halo screen (where you select
'Campaign') and must end after the 'Loading...' screen for the next level appears.
In other words, we must be able to see you select Legendary difficulty, and we
must be able to see that the level is completely finished.

6. You are allowed to skip any part of any level that you can, as well skip any
cutscenes you can. Any in-game trick or bug may be used. You may NOT, however,
use any external exploits (e.g. map editing or other modding).

7. It's acceptable to die during your run - but you must do the entire run in one shot; if we think you've spliced together footage from more than one run, we're tossing your entry. (We're not looking for hardcore proof, either; this is entirely at the judges' discretion. Avoid the problem by not even giving us the CHANCE to think you cheated.)

8. Each submission will be timed starting at the end of the cutscene prior to the
beginning of the level, and ending at the beginning of the cutscene at the end of
the level. We will determine the official time for your entry on our own, and
we'll periodically post a list of the fastest times for each level that we have
received so far.

9. Every video must have a minimum resolution of 320x240, a minimum
framerate of 30 frames per second, and it must be submitted in WMP9 or Quicktime
format. You can also record your entries on a VHS tape or a CD and mail them to
us. If it is at all possible, PLEASE record your entry directly -- don't simply
point a camcorder at the TV and record that.

10. You're welcome to submit as many entries as you want; however, if your
entry isn't faster than at least one of the top three existing times for your
level, please don't submit it since it's not going to win.

77. All entries MUST be in the hands of at least one judge by July 1, 2004. Any entry not received by midnight, Eastern Standard Time, on that date, will be discarded. No exceptions.

The Judging

Entries will be watched by all judges individually. Opinions will be tallied; entries that appear to be modified outside the boundaries of the rules by a majority of judges will be discarded. (Harsh, yes. Avoid this fate by not messing with your entry.)

Individual levels will be decided purely on speed; the fastest valid entry wins.

The grand prize will be chosen from amongst the top three speed entries for each level - so you have a shot at winning, even if you didn't win on speed alone. Speed will be one of the judging factors - you will not make it INTO the judging for the grand prize without finishing in the top three for your level - but it will not be the ONLY factor. Be creative!

The decision of the judges is final. We'll do our best to remain objective - but the winner is the winner, and that's that.

How to Submit Your Entry (or entries):

You have three options for getting your contest entries to us:

Upload them to ftp://ftp2.bungie.org/halouploads/ using an FTP client

If whatever you're using to upload files does not like this option, send us email at gnf@bungie.org, and we can set you up with a more conventional ftp option.

Upload them to any webspace that you might have, and we can download them ourselves from there

Send us a VHS tape or a CD in the mail (the address is given below)

After you have done one of these three things, you need to send us an e-mail at gnf@bungie.org. Include the following information in your e-mail:

Your name (or your online handle if you don't want us to use your name)

The e-mail address where we should contact you

Which level you are attempting

Your own estimate of the time of your entry

How you sent your entry to us (was it an ftp upload, on your webspace, or in the mail?)

Where we can find your entry -- if it was an ftp upload, give us the filename of the upload. If it's on your own web space, give us the URL of the file to download. If you sent it in the mail, tell us what the return address on the package is.

Make sure that you include ALL of the information that we ask for. We'll send you an e-mail to confirm that we've received your video.

If you're sending us a VHS tape or CD, mail it to:

Going Nowhere Fast
56 Deerfield Lane
Bethany, CT 06524

We're accepting PAL videos, as well - but don't mail them to the above address; there's no machine there that can read them. Use this one instead: